A Three-Way Date, and Clothes for the Occasion
Children's Day and Buddha's Birthday, capped off with the weekend — a four-day holiday stretch in total. One day she'd spent choosing a Parents' Day gift with Hasol and Nayun, along with teaching them a few serviceable recipes. Another day had gone entirely to studying for the make-up exams. Now, on the third day of the holiday with two days remaining, Yeoncheong had come back out to the streets, this time for her other two friends.
She'd considered staying home to study and leaving just in time for their meeting, but cracking open a book and picking up a pen didn't mean any actual studying would get done.
She arrived at the meeting spot with time to spare and waited a little while. Then she spotted her two friends in the distance, pushing their way through the holiday crowds. They must have spotted her too, because they threw their hands up and waved them furiously overhead.
"Yeoncheong!"
The fact that the two of them were walking over together was a question in itself, but there was something else Yeoncheong wanted to ask first, and she checked her phone as she did.
"What's this? Why are you guys here so early?"
There was still more than half an hour before the agreed time. She herself had come out early just to get some air after failing to focus on studying, but the other two had no such excuse. Naturally, the two friends who took up the spaces on either side of her both pressed their lips together slyly.
"The earlier we meet, the longer we get to see you, right?"
"Weren't you the one who came out early because you missed us?"
Seoha fired a fastball, straight down the middle as always, and Suyeon smacked it back with a sly grin. Getting hit like this the moment they met — somehow it felt like the whole day would go exactly like this.
"Ha! Wrong, actually. I've had my nose in books all holiday. My studying just wouldn't come together, so."
Yeoncheong fired back in turn, but —
"And why exactly couldn't you focus on your studying?"
"..."
Seoha's counter came flying as if it had been lying in wait, and in the end it was Yeoncheong who found herself struck mute.
Suyeon snickered — if you're going to lie, at least see it through to the end — and then looked Yeoncheong up and down. Whether today's fashion failed to please her, she didn't bother hiding the sigh that escaped her.
"Yeoncheong. Is this really the best you could do?"
"What? This is perfectly clean-cut, isn't it?"
Pinching her sleeve with her fingertips and spreading both arms wide, Yeoncheong looked down at her outfit for the day. A plain, pattern-free lavender sweatshirt with black pants. A thoroughly unremarkable combination. She'd at least gone with lavender instead of a colorless shade for a touch of personality, and since she had no idea what itinerary Suyeon and Seoha might have planned, she'd even chosen comfortable, stretchy pants with ease of movement in mind. But even with this considerate explanation attached, their reaction was lukewarm at best.
"...Still, this won't do. What a waste of that pretty face and figure."
"Yeoncheong, are you completely uninterested in dressing up?"
With Suyeon openly pressing a hand to her forehead and shaking her head, Seoha piled on. Her outfit might look boring, but her sense of aesthetics wasn't seriously defective or anything. Having agonized over the choice in her own way before picking out her clothes, Yeoncheong snapped back flatly.
"I'd say I dressed just fine. And for the record, it's not like I have zero interest."
That was the unvarnished truth. Back in the fall of last year, when she'd been turned into a dress-up doll for her friends' amusement. The compliments — that everything looked good on her — and the fact that even by her own eyes she looked genuinely stunning in those outfits, had been more than enough to spark her first-ever interest in clothes. The problem was simply that there were so. Many. Kinds. Squeezing shopping in alongside her studies was a different matter entirely. The clothes the Board Chairman had bought her hung in her closet, and yet her fashion sense still lingered in the land of colorless basics, sweatshirts, and hoodies.
"Right, of course. With a body like that, you can't afford to be."
Hearing this, Suyeon sighed in relief — thank goodness — then whispered something briefly with Seoha before announcing a change of plans. Yeoncheong didn't mind; she'd planned to go along anywhere regardless. But this whole flow felt somehow familiar.
"First. Let's go shop for clothes."
Hmm... extremely familiar.
Technically, Suyeon and Seoha had only come together because Seoha had picked her up — supposedly. But there was the synchronicity that made Yeoncheong feel like they'd rehearsed this, and the way they whispered back and forth coordinating their schedule...
"Aren't you two dangerously in sync?"
Yeoncheong asked, eyes narrowing thinly at her two friends. She was the one who supposedly liked them, yet somehow those two seemed to cling to each other even better. She asked it while feeling a twinge of jealousy — a very, very, veeery slight one — and the answer came back:
"Because we like the same person."
An answer she could understand but couldn't bring herself to sympathize with, and her face remained in a pout.
"Are you perhaps... jealous?"
"Wh-what? No. You just look like you are."
Pierced straight through the heart, Yeoncheong hurriedly denied it, but Seoha grinned and leaned in to whisper at her ear.
"We talked recently. About joining forces from now on — instead of rivals, working together as partners to win you over. What do you think? Can you handle two of us at once?"
An instant flash of memory from certain risqué books. At the thought of being ravished from both sides — nhehehe — the blue-haired girl's head shook violently from side to side, bobbing along with each shake.
"Hah! Why are you asking me about that? Just — let's keep moving, we're wasting time!"
"...Fine. It's a holiday, so the streets are crowded. Hold my hand tight. You still can't stand guys your own age, remember."
Seoha held her gaze for a long moment, swallowed the rest of what she'd been about to say, and squeezed the hand she'd taken.
The itinerary they'd prepared had been suddenly scrapped, so maybe disappointment would have been reasonable — but somehow, this was its own kind of fun instead. The two friends' faces were blooming with smiles as they debated what Yeoncheong might look good in. And since the rule was that anyone who didn't understand fashion had no seat at the table, Yeoncheong trotted along behind them, sneaking sidelong glances.
"Hey. Do I get any pants out of this, or what?"
Somehow everything they were holding had that skimpy, open-at-the-bottom design, so she couldn't help pointing it out.
At that, Suyeon — who'd been agonizing between two candidates identical except for color — pressed her lips together slyly.
"Aw, why~? You wear pants all the time. Let's dress you up differently today."
"By sheer number of wears, I've had skirts on more often lately, actually?"
Did they think she was an idiot, trailing silently behind them? Something like — a style different from the school uniform would suit her better. Wouldn't it be cute how flustered she'd get wearing this? And on and on. That was just from the scraps she'd overheard.
"The school uniform is obviously off the table!"
Suyeon, prickling, raised her voice for no real reason, and just then —
"Hmm... no matter how I look at it, the intent here seems impure..."
"You're the one with the impure thoughts, not us."
"Wh-what?"
Seoha picked up the shorter of the two candidate skirts and held it right up against Yeoncheong's body. Grasping both ends of the skirt, she casually laid it across her waist, and Yeoncheong flinched.
"It suits you. Doesn't it?"
Whether she was startled or not, Seoha traded a nod with Suyeon and pressed her lips together once more.
"And if it doesn't, just put it on and come out. We're doing this because seeing the person we like dressed pretty makes us even happier."
"Mm, mm."
Suyeon nodded her head half off beside her, shooting her a look of utter sincerity, so...
"For the sake of my innocence. And out of respect for all the effort you two put into agonizing over this. I'll try it on. Got it?"
Yeoncheong accepted the clothes her friends handed her and stepped into the fitting room. A short while later. When she pushed open the door with the mirror and stepped out, both friends let out a small gasp at the sight of her.
"Wow."
"Worth all that agonizing."
A sleeveless top barely different from what she normally wore under her uniform, layered with a slightly sheer cardigan. And on top of that — a miniskirt, which she never wore. If her earlier outfit had been bundled up tight, this was, by Yeoncheong's standards, practically naked. Especially priceless was the way she scrambled, yanking down at a miniskirt even shorter than she'd anticipated. Given everything in her memory, she should have declared she couldn't possibly wear it and marched right back out — and yet she'd actually tried it on. Progress, if nothing else. But, as she'd said before —
"I tried it on, so we're done, right? This is way too short. Let's pick something else."
Maybe because the swing from what she'd just been wearing was so drastic, Yeoncheong turned around, declaring she'd change clothes again. But Suyeon and Seoha, who'd known at first sight that this was the one, could not allow it.
Behind her retreating back, the two friends finished exchanging a look. Suyeon grabbed Yeoncheong's arm and stopped her in her tracks.
"Aigoo~ If you're going to give it a two-second once-over, there was no point in trying it on at all."
Check the back view too, they said — turn this way and that so we can look you over properly — until Yeoncheong's head was spinning clean off her shoulders.
"Yeoncheong. There are three reasons you should pick the outfit you're wearing right now."
While her friend bought time, Seoha had conjured up a full three reasons to persuade her.
"And they are...?"
Who knows how many more times they spun her around. Yeoncheong asked, pressing a hand to her dizzy forehead. She'd wanted to dodge it as much as possible, figuring she'd be talked into whatever she heard — but Suyeon was already waiting in front of the fitting room. To Yeoncheong, who had resolved to let it go in one ear and out the other, Seoha raised her index finger with utter confidence.
"First. How much longer are you going to hide yourself because you're embarrassed? It's a crime to waste that pretty face and figure."
"Heard that one before we even got to the store. That reason is disqualified. Rejected."
She'd resolved to let it wash over her. But this one was so easily refutable that her lips moved of their own accord. Seoha made a peace sign without a shred of regret — knew you'd say that.
"Second. You said the class T-shirt is a cheerleader uniform, didn't you? Then don't you need time to get used to this style of clothing? You can't exactly back out at the last minute and say you can't wear it."
Seoha paused, waiting for her rebuttal. She'd already answered once, and backing out now would be beneath her. And that was exactly the trap Seoha had set.
"That's... not your worry to worry about..."
A low, muttering reply — noticeably lacking the confidence of before. She was at least somewhat aware of it herself, hence the nonverbal tell that had slipped out unconsciously. Sensing certain victory, Seoha raised her ring finger for the final nail in the coffin.
"And last. You look absolutely gorgeous right now. So gorgeous it's driving me crazy — I'd love it if you'd keep that outfit on."
"Ugh... huh?"
At that signature, no-holds-barred fastball down the middle, Yeoncheong's face finally went off like a firework.
"I-I'm pretty?"
"Didn't hear me? Want me to say it again?"
Her blue hair whipped around hard enough to slap her own cheeks, and Seoha let out a soft snort of laughter.
"Do it for us, then — just for today. Consider it training for when you have to wear that cheerleader uniform later."
"......Fine. B-because if I buy the class T-shirt and then can't wear it out of embarrassment, that's its own problem..."
Yeoncheong snatched up the excuse so generously dangled for her. Seoha agreed readily — exactly.
"Right, of course. The clothes will be our gift. I'll just pay with my card and we'll be on our way."
"......Okay."
Leaving Yeoncheong to go check out wearing her entire outfit on her body, Suyeon looked at the friend who had pulled off that brutal act of persuasion with something like awe.
"That's our Seoha. Turns out being smart makes even this possible."
Tossing out an easy opening for rebuttal so it couldn't be brushed aside. Laying out a readymade excuse. And then that sincerity-soaked finisher. A flawless three-hit combo. Meanwhile Seoha, architect of the feat, hoisted her friend's praises right back.
"You're the one who taught me, back in the day. Push shamelessly and it works nine times out of ten. I just added a little finesse on top."
As if to prove the talk of "partners" had been no lie. The hurdle was sky-high, yet the wall itself was so soft it would crumble at a touch — and so the two of them shared strategies for conquering their already paper-thin defense of a friend.
"Guys, let's go..."
Price tags removed, Yeoncheong staggered out of the store.
"Yah, Yeoncheong! You have to grab the clothes you came in!"
Whether her mind was still not quite back from the brink or not, she'd completely forgotten the outfit she'd left folded in the fitting room.